Mesothelioma Diagnosis

A malignant mesothelioma diagnosis is most frequently obtained with careful assessment of clinical and radiological findings in addition to a confirming tissue biopsy. An assessment of the patient's medical history, including history of asbestos exposure is taken, followed by a complete physical examination, x-rays of the chest or abdomen, and lung function tests. A CT scan or MRI may also be done at this time. If any of these preliminary tests show suspicious for mesothelioma; a biopsy is necessary to confirm this mesothelioma diagnosis.

There are several imaging techniques which may prove useful when mesothelioma is assumed due to the presence of pleural effusion combined with a history of occupational or secondary asbestos exposure. While these imaging techniques can be important in assessing the possibility of the cancer, definitive mesothelioma diagnosis is still most often established through fluid diagnosis or tissue biopsy.

A needle biopsy of the mass, or the removal and inspection of the fluid surrounding the lung, may be used for mesothelioma diagnosis, nevertheless, because these samples are sometimes inadequate as far as determining cell type (epithelial, sarcomatous, or mixed) or because of the unreliability of fluid diagnosis, open pleural biopsy may be suggested. In a pleural biopsy procedure, a surgeon will make a small incision through the chest wall and insert a thin, lighted tube called a thoracoscope into the chest between two ribs. He will then take away a sample of tissue to be reviewed under a microscope by a pathologist. In a peritoneal biopsy, the doctor makes a small incision in the abdomen and inserts a peritoneoscope into the abdominal cavity.

Once mesothelioma is assumed through imaging tests, it is confirmed by pathological examination. Tissue is removed, put under the microscope, and a pathologist makes a definitive diagnosis, and issues a pathology report. This is the end of a process that typically begins with symptoms that send most people to the doctor: a fluid build-up or pleural effusions, shortness of breath, pain in the chest, or pain or swelling in the abdomen.